Carrier for beverage cans and the like



y 1965 B. HORVATH 3,184,260

CARRIER FOR BEVERAGE CANS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 9, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet1 y 18, 1955 B. HORVATH 3,184,260

CARRIER FOR BEVERAGE CANS AND THE LIKE Filed 001:. 9, 1961 2Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

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United States Patent 3,184,260 CARRIER FOR BEVERAGE CANS AND THE LIKEBela Horvath, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to Plasti- Carrier,Incorporated, Bridgeport, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Filed Oct.9, 1961, Ser. No. 143,779 8 Claims. (Cl. 294-872) This invention relatesto a carrier for cans of the type in which food and beverages arecommonly packaged, and particularly to a carrier for packaging andmanually carrying a plurality of such cans.

The packaging of articles in metal cans is widely practiced,particularly in the food and beverage fields, and it is common practiceto cluster a plurality of such cans in a single package, frequently madeof cardboard, to facilitate their shipment, display, purchase andtransportation home by a consumer. Exemplary of these cans are thewidely used twelve and sixteen ounce beer cans which are cylindrical andinclude upper and lower flangedover circular lips, and these cans arefrequently packed in clusters of six cans, that are commonly referred toas six-packs. It is a common sight in virtually any retail store whichsells beer to see stacks of six-packs of beer displayed for sale. Thesesix-packs are ordinarily packaged in paperboard cartons, which aresatisfactory in general; however, they have limitations in that they areinitially rather expensive to manufacture and assemble about the cans,and ultimately, when the consumer gets the six-pack home, it isnecessary to physically destroy the paperboard carton and this often isdiflicult, occasionally causes the consumer to cut his fingers on thesharp edges of the paperboard, and, in any event, is a bothersome andinconvenient way of separating the cans.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved carrier for aplurality of cans which is inexpensive to produce; easy to mount on aplurality of cans; effective as a package for a plurality of cans, andeasy to remove cans therefrom.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved carrier asset forth in the preceding paragraph wherein the carrier may be appliedto the cans by hand if desired; the cans are fully visible after thecarrier is mounted on them, and stacking of multiple packs of cans isnot prevented by the carrier.

The objects of the invention are achieved in one form by the provisionof a carrier in the form of a unitary, thin, generally planar body ofsoft, pliable material having a plurality of finger openings, and aplurality of pairs of associated locking lugs and positioning lugsdisposed to individually retain one or more cans by engaging the lips ofthe cans over a substantial arcuate portion of them.

Other objects and further details of that which I believe to be noveland my invention will be clear from the following description and claimstaken with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carrier embodying my inventionillustrated as mounted on six cans and being lifted manually;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the carrier;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantialiy on line 44 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view taken substantially on line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 66 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the carrier;

FIG. 8 is a greatly enlarged elevational view of a portion of a carrier,and

FIG. 9 is a somewhat schematic view showing a stack of multi-packs ofcans which are packaged by my carrier.

In PEG. 1 there is illustrated a six-pack of cans C packaged by myimproved carrier which is generally designated by reference numeral 10.Six cans presently is an optimum number of cans to cluster and sell as aunit, particularly in the case of beer, and my carrier is illustratedand will be described as a carrier for six cans; however, it can beadapted to carry any desired number of cans. In FIG. 1 the carrier 10 isillustrated as mounted on top of the six cans, and a second carrier 10is illustrated in dotted lines as mounted on the bottom of the cans. Thecarrier 10 may be utilized alone on top or in pairs, one on top and oneon the bottom of the sixpack, as illustrated in FIG. 1. For mostapplications only a single carrier 10 need be employed; however, asecond one may also be optionally employed, if'desired, and for certainapplications, as where the contents of the cans C are extremely heavy,two carriers 10 may be employed.

Each carrier it) comprises a unitary, thin, generally planar body 12 ofsoft, pliable material, such as rubber, natural or synthetic, butpreferably a soft, pliable plastic material, such as medium densitypolyethylene. In practice, polyethylene having a melting index of 5 hasproved very effective. Rigid plastics, such as polystyrene, areunsuitable and should not be employed, as they do not have the requisiteresilience. The body 12 may be conveniently and economicallymanufactured by molding such material into the body 12, and this methodof manufacture has proved satisfactory in practice.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 in particular, it will be observed thatthe body 12 is generally rectangular in outline configuration and may beconsidered to have a definite width and length, although the corners ofthe rectangle are cut away and recessed at 14 to save material andlighten the carrier, and a longitudinally extending tab 16, whichconstitutes a can-releasin tab, is formed at one end of the rectangle.To further reduce the weight and save material, at longitudinallycentral side areas, semicircular cut-out openings 18 are formed.Extending completely through the body 12 centrally thereof is a pair ofspaced openings 20, which constitute finger gripping openings whichenable the insertion of fingers, gripping of the carrier and lifting ofthe cluster of cans. The top 22 of the body 12, which is seen in plan inFIG. 2, is substantially fiat, except for a plurality of depressions,all generally designated 2-3, which are formed in the molding processand will not be described in detail, as they do not perform anyparticular function in the finished carrier. Depressions 23 are ofvarious shapes as they constitute upper recesses formed above thevariously configured formations formed on the bottom 24 of the bod 12.The bottom 24, which can be seen in plan in FIG. 3, is uneven as it hasa multiplicity of molded raised formations which are operativelyassociated so as to receive and retain the rim lips L of the cans C.With particular reference to FIGS. 3 and 8, these formations will now bedescribed in detail.

Around each finger opening 20 on the bottom 24 of the carrier body thereis disposed at depending raised ridge 26 and at four arcuately equallyspaced locations there are disposed lugs 28 which extend out of saidridge radially outwardly relative thereto, and depend downwardly fartherthan the ridge 26. Ridge 26 functions to reinforce the rims of openings20 and to form finger grips. Adjacent each lug 28 and spaced radiallyoutwardly therefrom is a slightly reversely arcuately curved slit 30formed completely through the body 12. Adjacent each slit 30 andradially outwardly spaced therefrom is a lug 32. With particularreference to FIG. 6 it will be seen that each lug 28 at its lowermostendhasa radially outwardly extending flexible flange 34 formed whichoverlies the slit 30"and has an arcuate lowermost surface. Each lug .32

has a vertically depending flange 36 whichis less flexible than andextends toward the flange 34,.but-does not depend below'bottom 24 quiteas far. The adjacent edges 'of the flanges 34 and 36 are spaced slightlyapart and define slightly 'arcuate, narrow entranceways 38 which arearranged} to accommodate a'cam lid. Each lug '28 com-' prises a lockinglug and its flexible flange 34 constitutes a locking flange, and eachlug 32 comprises a positioning its periphery which extend overapproximately ninety percent thereof by a group of spaced pairs ofassociated positioning and locking lugs. For example, the lower lefthandcan C in'FIGQ3 has its; lid Lreceived between (with reference to FIG. 3)the lowermost positioning lug 48 and the lowermost locking flange 58 ofthe locking lug 54 of the left-hand set of formations 44;-'the lowerleft-hand 'pair of locking lug 28 andpositioning lug 32 disposed abouttheleft-hand finger opening 20, and theleft-hand positioning lug 48 andleft-hand locking flange 58' of locking lug 54 of the left-hand setofformations 44 at lug and its flange 36 constitutes a positioningflange for a can lid which guides it into an entrancewayfis' intolocking relationship with locking lug 28. Therefore, each pair ofassociated locking lugs 28 and positioning lugs 32 comprises a means forpositioning and locking an arcuate portion of a can lid when the latteris forced.

into the entranceway 38, thereby forcing flexible locking flange 34 andpositioning flange 36 apart and permitting entrance of the can lid.Thereafter, the can lid is dis, posed between spaced opposed walls 40,42 of the lugs 28, 32," respectively, the carrier body bottom 24 and theflexible locking flange 34 0f lug 28. Each pair of associ-y atedlocking'lugs 28, 32 disposed about each opening 26 is arranged to haveits entranceway fall on a predeterthe lowerside of the carrier body. Theentranceways 60,

' of'the'lid. Similarly, each of the other corner. cans C in FIG; 3 issupported at three lo'cations along its lid pe- V riphery overapproximately ninety percent thereof by three separate pairs ofassociated locking and positioning logs. The upper and lowercentral'cans C in FIG. 3 are each supported at four arcuately spacedlocations on the mined are so that it may aid in positioningand-retaining a different can lid L in it, as will subsequently becomeap parent. i

In addition to being gripped by a pair of cooperating lugs 28, 32disposed about a finger opening2t3,ieach can lid is also gripped atleast at two additional, arcuately periphery of theirlids overapproximately one hundred eighty degrees thereof. With reference to thelower central can C in FIG. 3, it will be observed that its lid L issupportedflby the right-hand positioning lug 48 and the spaced points bysets of otherforma'tions formed on the bottom of the carrier body 12..As can best be seen in FIG. 3 there are a pair of sets of theseformations, at six different, spaced locations,one at each longitudinalend edge and two at each side edge. Each of these sets has beendesignated generally by reference numeral '44 in I FIG. 3, and asidefrom its location is constructed similarly. Therefore, a detaileddescription of only one of these sets, viz., the extreme right-handone-in each of FIGS. 2 and 3, will be made; however, it will applyequally to all of them.

With particular reference to FIGS. 3, 4, 5 andS, one set 44 offormations will now be described in detail. At the flange 50, which isarcuate at its lowermost surface, and

a vertically extending wall 52 which is spaced from the wall 52 of itsassociated positioning lug. The walls 52.

are slightly curved and converge toward the end of the body 12'. In eachset 44 there is a lockinglug 54 that is disposed relative to thepositioning lugs 48 so as to forma locking flange for each of thepositioning lugs. When viewed in plan, the locking lug 54 is somewhattriangular, though it has slightly curved converging side edge walls 56formed by laterally projecting flanges 58 at the lower,

end of the lug 54. Flanges 58 extend laterally into operative positionwith the positioning lugs 48 and are spaced downwardly therefrom (seeFIG. 5). Each flange 58 is flexible and constitutes a locking flangewhich associates with its. adjacent positioning flange of a positioninglug 48 to form a slightly curved entranceway 60 into which a portion of'a can lid L may be forced to separate the flanges 50, 58, which positionand ultimatelylock the can lid betwen a wall 52 of a positioning lug 48,an opposed spaced wall 62 on'a locking lug'54', carrier body bottom 24and a locking flange 58 of the locking lug 54.

It will, therefore, be understood, with particular reference to FIG. 3,that each can lid is'received, positioned and locked atleast at threearcuately spaced locations on right-hand locking flange 58 ofthelowerleft-hand set of formations 44; two associated pairs of lugs 32, 28,namely, the lower; right-hand pair about the left-hand finger opening'20 and the lower left-hand pair. about the right-hand finger opening20, and the left-hand positioning lug 48 and locking flange 58 of thelower right-hand set of formations 44. Theentranceways formed by. thepairs of lugs fall on a semicircle of a radius equal to that of the canL.

Carriers it formed asab ove described may be manually monnted'on top'ofa cluster of six cans to position and lock each of the six cans in placeby juxtaposing the bottom :24 to the tops of the cans; aligning the-canlids with the arcuately disposed entranceways into which they arearranged to be inserted, and pushing down on the carrier to force thepairs of lugs to snap over the can lid. Conversely, a carrier may beplaced with its bottom 24facing upwardly and the cans individuallysnapped into place insets of receiving lugs. Although the initialpackaging may be performed manually, as just described, it can also bedone on automatic machinery. After the carriers are individually mounted.on clusters of can-s to form six-packs, they may be convenientlystacked for display in a store, as illustrated schematically in FIG/9.The flat tops 22 of thecarriers facilitate neat stacking, and the widthof the carriers is made at least as large as the diameter of the cansbeing supported tofurther facilitate stacking by insuring an adequatesupporting base for each six-pack. When the consumer desires to lift asixpack packaged with my carrier from a display, it is simply necessaryto insert the thumb and middle finger of his hand into the fingeropenings 20, as illustrated in FIG. 1, and to grip, lift and carry thesix-pack to the desired place. Throughout, fingers contact only thecarrier body, primarily the ridges 26. When the six-pack is transportedhome, each can C may be'individually removed.

Therefore, it is not necessary to separate all the cans, as is necessarywith paperboard cartons.- This obtains because the carrier body 10 ismade of a-soft, pliable material and it is simply necessary to lift thecan-releasing tab 16 away fromthe cans to release them one at a time.Alternatively, cans may be individually removed by twisting and pullingthem out of their retaining lugs- If more than one can should beinadvertently removed from the a carrier, it may be readily replacedmanually by forcing it back between its retaining lugs. Because thecarrier is made -ofa soft, pliable material, all possibility of injuryto aperson during removal of a can is eliminated. Notwithstanding thefact that they are superior in operation to paperboard car-tons, it hasbeen found in practice that carriers constructed in accordance with myinvention made of medium density polyethylene cut the cost of packagingsix-packs from thirty-three to fif-ty percent, relative to conventionalpaperboard cartons for twelve and sixteen ounce cans, respectively.Furthermore, because of the small size, compactness and light weight ofcarriers contem plated by the invention, they may be shipped and storedfor substantially less than conventional paperboard cartons.

As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of myinvention are not limited to the particular details of construction ofthe example illustrated, and I contemplate that various and othermodifications and applications will occur to those skilled in the art.It is, therefore, my intention that the appended claims shall cover suchmodifications and applications as do not depart from the true spirit andscope of my invention.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, I claim:

1. A carrier for a plurality of cans having circular tops with circularlips formed about the rims of the can tops comprising: a unitary thingenerally planar body of soft pliable material; said body including aplurality of spaced finger openings; and said body including on one ofits sides a plurality of groups of pairs of raised locking lugs andassociated positioning lugs; each of said groups comprising a pluralityof spaced pairs of flexible locking lugs and associated positioning lugsthat are disposed to individually retain a can by engaging the can lip:at least at three arcuately spaced locations over an arc ofapproximately ninety degrees, said locking lugs and positioning lugshaving opposed spaced walls forming entranceways for the can lids, andsaid locking lugs having flexible 6 locking flanges extending toward butshort of their associated positioning lug wall, whereby cans may be individually mounted or removed from said carrier by being manuallysnapped on or oif said carrier.

2. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein said body has a substantiallyflat top side opposite to said one of its sides; and said body has awidth at least as large as the diameter of a can lip.

3. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein said body has a projectingcan-releasing tab formed at one end thereof.

4. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein said body is made of mediumdensity polyethylene.

5. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein said body includes aplurality of weight-reducing and material saving cut-out portions.

6. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein said lugs are disposed tosupport six cans.

7. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein some of said lugs are formedin formations that are common to more than one set of pairs of lugs.

8. A carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein a reinforcing ridge is formedabout each opening and said ridges are formed by formations that alsoform some of said lugs.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,002,612 10/61Poupitch 206- 3,022,888 2/62 Brunsing 20665 THERO'N E. CONDO'N, PrimaryExaminer. EARLE J. DRUMMOND, Examiner.

1. A CARRIER FOR A PLURALITY OF CANS HAVING CIRCULAR TOPS WITH CIRCULARLIPS FORMED ABOUT THE RIMS OF THE CAN TOPS COMPRISING: A UNITARY THINGENERALLY PLANAR BODY OF SOFT PLIABLE MATERIAL; SAID BODY INCLUDING APLURALITY OF SPACED FINGER OPENINGS; AND SAID BODY INCLUDING ON ONE OFITS SIDES A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF PAIRS OF RAISED LOCKING LUGS ANDASSOCIATED POSITIONING LUGS; EACH OF SAID GROUPING COMPRISING APLURALITY OF SPACED PAIRS OF FLEXIBLE LOCKING LUGS AND ASSOCIATEDPOSITIONING LUGS THAT ARE DISPOSED TO INDIVIDUALLY RETAIN A CAN BYENGAGING THE CAM LIP AT LEAST AT THREE ARCUATELY SPACED LOCATIONS OVERAN ARC OF APPROXIMATELY NINETY DEGREES, SAID LOCKING LUGS AREPOSITIONING